A Wonderful Journey

Growing up on dairy farms in a rural community only 5km apart from each other, yet attending different schools, it was a high possibility that at some point Murray and Eileen would meet each other.  And as luck would have it, they did. During that time, they would often attend local community events and knew of each other. Then one day, Murray asked Eileen to go with him to an annual rugby ball and from there a romance blossomed.

They were married in 1973 and although dairy farming was in their blood, it wasn’t the first part of what was going to be an incredible journey together, as Murray then was working as a diesel mechanic, whilst Eileen worked at a plant nursery.  Two years later, they purchased their first home.

In 1981, sick of working long hours for a cultivating business, Murray made the decision that they should make the change and go dairy farming. At that time, Murray and Eileen had the gut feeling that Taranaki was the place to go, so they applied for and were successful at securing a 39% sharemilking position in Manaia. They rented their house out and farmed in the Taranaki for the next two seasons.

“At the time basically, we didn’t know a thing about dairy farming apart from what we learned growing up on farms,” said Murray.

In 1983 they sold their house to buy their first herd of 140 dairy cows, sharemilking 50/50 for a Lands and Survey farm at Motua, near Foxton.

The next step on their farming journey, saw Murray and Eileen secure a lease farm (won by tender), so it was back to Taranaki, this time a bit further around the coast to Oaonui.

The Smyths acknowledge that they learned a lot during their time in Oaonui, that led to a strength in their dairy farming, with an increase in cow numbers and production.  Murray became an AB technician and a Lions Club member and Eileen set up a weekly Preschool group in the local hall.

“We were involved in the community. It was a wonderful place to be,” said Murray.

When the farm was released in 1989, Murray and Eileen decided to take a break from dairy farming, selling their cows but retaining their Jersey R1 heifers and purchasing a sheep and beef property in Waverley.  They purchased a lifestyle block at Maxwell, where they lived and the family attended Maxwell school.

It wasn’t long before they stepped back into dairying, purchasing their first farm, in the Taranaki coastal area of Pungarehu, milking 200 cows.

In 1995, their journey brought them back to the Manawatu, buying a farm in Kimbolton.

This was an initial 12-month project as they began to covert this sheep and beef property into dairy, doing a complete refence and adding a cowshed to milk 280 cows. They expanded further, purchasing the neighbouring river flats, building a second cowshed and increasing cow numbers to 700, running two herds in a fully self-contained system.

By 2014, Murray and Eileen thought it was time that they took a step down from the day to day running of the dairy farm, so they sold the Kimbolton farm and bought a lifestyle property at Waituna West. Still wanting to be involved in the dairy industry, they purchased an 80ha farm, this time at Mangamaire in the Tararua region, bringing their farm Manager from Kimbolton, Shane McGhie.

Eight years later, the Mangamaire dairy farm was sold and replaced with a 62ha dairy farm at Raupo Rd, Rangiotu, back in the Manawatu. Shane made the move back over the hill also to continue managing the dairy operation for Murray and Eileen.

Three years later, after having a chat with and receiving some super advice from longtime friend and Real Estate Agent, Les Cain, Murray and Eileen made the decision to end their dairy journey.  In 2025, the Raupo Rd farm was sold by Sallan Realty, with their entire in-milk herd sold to various dairy farming operations locally as well as to the South Island, Taranaki, and the Waikato.

For Murray and Eileen Smyth, it has been a wonderful journey, coming through the sharemilking system, to leasing and then farm ownership. They are enjoying semi-retirement on their 80 hectares at Waituna West, where they farm sheep and cattle.

They were grateful to have Shane McGhie with them for 12 years and are now helping him in his farm ownership journey on the Mangamaire farm that they previously owned.

Their motto is simple; take risks with sensible outcomes, feed your dairy cows well for good results, listen to elderly farmers and ask them questions so that you can make a gain and help to make your work load easier.

Murray and Eileen would like to thank Sallan Realty for being part of their journey too and will never forget those yellow shoelaces!